first real "fish"

General Discussion
1

I’m planning to build my first real fish. these are just a couple of thoughts and questions that i have. please comment on or answer any that interest you. just so you know, i’m about 5’11/ 160lbs and a fairly good surfer. i’m building this for weak texas gulf surf as an alternative to a longboard.

the dimensions i’m considering: 6’ / 14’’ / 21.5’’ / 16’’ / 2.5’’ thick

RAILS

    - i'm very interested in the "super fish"  by seven surfboards that's been advertised a lot in the mags lately.  has anyone ridden one?  the step deck looks ideal.  but if i don't step the deck down, what is a pretty standard retro fish rail measurment?

FIN SETUP

     - i'd also like to do a 4fin setup at 12'' and 6''.  what type of toe-in and cant do you use on a 4 fin?    



                                       thanks a lot.
2

Gulf coast, go wider than shorter. Your waves are mostly shortperiod windswell, at least when you choose to ride a fish.

Even for WestCoastCal, 22" is fine with a 17" tail, right around 5’6" long. WPoint forward and straight rails allow you to ride really short.

RNF fish is a different concept, more like a short tri fin with nose cut off and swallow tail, works, and is close to your measurements, but aren’t for GulfCoast waves.

Step deck as you like, makes no difference…you design your board.

More toe in turns better, but needs more wave power.

Assuming your surfing PA, SPID, or horrors, Galvaston…make 'em dead straight, so board goes the fastest.

When you set fins straight, you need to move WPoint to at least center, to give yourself more rail curve to turn off of.

3

A real fish? 7surfboards aren’t those made in China? I accidentally skimmed through a Surfer mag today . amazing… I only saw one ad for a board that might have been shaped and glassed in the US. they are pushing those Chinese and Asain made boards mighty heavily, eah? seems the real board maker can"t afford to advertise anymore…I wonder why?

A quad with no toe-in will track like a MF. don’t do it! good placement for a quad is 5.50" and 11." or the back fin half the distance of the front fin. toe-in around 3/16"

4

The Pavel quad fish has the front fins toed 1/8th, and the rear fins toed 1/16th or no toe in. They go extremely well!

5

Hi Blaise,

With regard to the 7 Superfish I bought one last year in Oz - and before any one jumps down my throat the guy in the shop said it was from a local shaper, I’d never heard of Seven at that point (and they’re still not being sold here in the UK) so I took his word for it.

Anyway the shape is licensed from an Australian (Gary Loveridge I think?!) so regardless of where it was made the shape has some integrity behind it. Personally I have found the board to be excellent (sorry!). It inspired me to get a more traditional fish shaped locally and having now surfed a more “full on” fish I’d say that the 7 board sits kinda midway between it and a thruster. It catches waves with ease and generates heaps of speed although not as much as my new fish. It is more suited to riding in a “modern” style, i.e. likes to be worked more than the traditional fish(which seems to glide along effortlessly). The step deck seems to allow the board to surf more like a modern thruster but also give you that extra bouyancy inherent in the trad fish. Works great in gutless waves and everyone I’ve let try it out has been similarly impressed with it.

So it may not be flavour of the month on account of its Asian origin (Thailand not China) but as a shape it certainly is worthy of your interest.

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6

Jim, is that toe-in you described just for the speed dailer, turbo quad fin set up…seems having fins like that might help?? looks like the base of the fins are not the same as upper depths(twisted inward) of the fin and therefore actually creating slightly more toe in at mid to upper ends of the fins than at the base??? NO?

Nice looking board by the way…

7

Just a deceiving photo angle. No twist in the fins. For me, the turbo version of Rich’s fins made a world of difference. The board didn’t feel tracky at all, as a matter of fact it was too squirrely with the straight ones. With the turbos I can ride big waves. Here’s the latest Pavel quad fish. Got a couple double overhead drops on her a few days ago at lowers -

8

…may be they sports less toe in but theyve got a lot of cant…

9

malcatron,

thanks for the information on the seven superfish. what are the dimensions of each board? i saw the picture, but it’ll give me a much better perspective of their differences.

and even though your traditional fish seems much shorter, would you say that it catches small waves better or worse? would you expand a little more on their differences in performance on small waves?

thanks again

10

Hi Blaise,

7 Superfish 6’3" x 20.5 x 2.75" Single concave to double

concave thru tail comes with FCS G5 tri fin set up but I switched to a set

of MR twin fins and a GS trailer - really brought the board to life.

Trad Fish (from a Skip Frye template) 5’8" x 21.5 x 2.75 Flat to Vee thru

tail with custom twin keels

I’ve only been surfing the trad fish for about a month so I’ve yet to suss

it out completely and compared to any other board I’ve owned it definitely

needs more of an adjustment to your riding style (than switching between

thrusters). First off I found it to be very loose and “slippery” but I’ve

adjusted my stance forward (above keels) and now have much more control over

it, but when I want it I can tap into the looseness and over rotate top

turns and do tail slides with ease. It’s just a case of learning to control

it.

As far as wave catching goes I’d say that the trad fish has the edge, this

I would think is a result of the greater width, flatter rocker and flat

bottom. It seems to start planing instantly which can be a bit hairy if

taking off very late! The 7 is still a great wave catcher though, when on a

peak with my friends on their thrusters I can sit a bit further outside and

take all the waves I want, needless to say they all want one!

Whilst both can get going on waves with very little power I’d say that the

7 handles lumpy wind choppy surf a bit better. I think that the slightly

increased rocker of the 7 allows it to cope a bit better with lumps and

bumps on the wave face. The trad doesn’t need waves to be perfect it just

likes a more smooth surface to operate on - get it on a nice open smooth

face and it goes like a rocket!

BTW I’m a touch taller and heavier than you (6’0 165 -170lbs and wear a

full wetsuit year round) and find that 5’8" is plenty big enough and a whole

heap of fun. If like me you normally surf a 6’3" - 6’5" thrusters you may

want to lose a few inches on the length, maybe 5’10"?

Hope this is of some use to you

11

malcatron,

thanks a lot for your time.